Two prison converts were arrested Wednesday night and charged with planning an attack on a military facility in Seattle. The government alleges that Walli Mujahidh and Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif planned a machine gun assault on a local military recruiting center, which also houses a daycare.
A criminal complaint charges the two with conspiracy to murder officers and employees of the United States, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction (grenades), and possession of firearms in furtherance of crimes of violence.
After being approached by the defendants to participate in the plot and supply weapons, an individual identified Latif, a.k.a. Joseph Anthony Davis, and Mujahidh, a.k.a. Frederick Domingue Jr., to law enforcement. Using the informant, the FBI monitored the plotters as they chose targets, authorized the purchase of weapons, and outlined their plans.
The defendants' initial target was the Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a facility housing merged Army and Air Force bases. However, they later settled on the Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) in Seattle, which hosts the joint recruiting offices of several branches of the armed forces.
Latif told the confidential source of his admiration for Osama bin Laden and Fort Hood shooter Abdul Nidal Malik, noting that the war on America should be a "physical jihad" and not just a "media jihad." The group planned to carry out the attack with machine guns and grenades, planning to "take out anybody wearing green or a badge."
"These men intended to carry out a deadly attack against our military where they should be most safe, here at home," U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan said in a press release.
Both defendants face life in prison if convicted.